Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) called for Republicans to break from big business in policy and politics when he spoke at the National Conservatism Conference yesterday. He also penned an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel saying America’s largest companies have peddled “anti-American ideologies” and “wokeness” which has contributed to America’s growing partisan divide.
Rubio’s comments from the conference were pared down into another op-ed posted in The American Conservative where he said if conservatives do not fight back using “corporate patriotism….we would lose America.”
“The collapse of corporate patriotism opened the door for these companies to fall for anti-American ideologies we see in the news and our workplaces. The companies that control the vast majority of America’s economic resources and curate the information we see and hear on a daily basis now say that America is a racist or sexist country. These oligarchs believe the very existence of America is fatally flawed, and they are devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to advance corporate propaganda that reflects these beliefs. They aim to remake our society, our culture, and our country. They aim to redefine what constitutes a good life in America.
For over a century these have been the tactics used by Marxists to take over countless nations and societies. If we do not fight back, we will lose America. This is not hyperbole. In fact, it is very familiar to the Americans I was raised by and those I still live among, who witnessed Marxist revolutions take over their homelands.”
Historically, the Republican Party and the conservative movement has found allies in large corporations backing free-market policies even as the “Occupy Wall Street” movement gained traction among socialist-type voters who advocated for raising corporate tax rates and “making the rich pay their fair share.” However, Rubio says the big businesses who GOP politicians previously defended, have taken on positions to appease the left-wing of American politics.
Rubio would propose requirements for large companies to ensure there is no conflict of interest between their investors and board of directors with America’s enemies, primarily the Chinese Communist Party.
After the 2020 presidential election, Rubio said the GOP needed to rebrand itself as a party for the working-class He echoed those sentiments again in his most recent comments.
“Promising to just cut more regulations and corporate taxes that’s going to get applause from campaign donors and get some glowing coverage in media outlets focused on the stock market,” Rubio said. “But it leaves millions of hard working Americans, people who do not want a woke socialist America, it leaves them with no voice in our politics and no answers to their problems.”
Republicans have also typically found friends among business trade associations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, finding agreement over lower taxes and regulations for American businesses. But last year, the Chamber endorsed over two dozen Democrats, who the Chamber claimed were political centrists.
But Rubio said the way to preserve the values he believes in is to raise up a new generation of businessmen and women who believe in America.
“The ultimate way to stop the current Marxist cultural revolution among our corporate elite is to replace them with a new generation of business leaders who consider themselves Americans, not citizens of the world.
That is how we defeat this toxic cultural Marxism and rebuild an economy where America’s largest companies were accountable for what matters to America: new factories built in America, good jobs for American families, and investments in American neighborhoods and communities.
It is not too late to get it right, but we have no time to waste in restoring what has made this nation great for so many generations.”
AXIOS: Sen. Marco Rubio will call for Republicans to break up with Big Business at National Conservatism Conference
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) November 1, 2021
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Marco Rubio” by Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0.
